Process of treating wurtzilite or elaterite and of producing fusible soluble products.



UNITED sTA ss RATE n r onir oili WILLIAM F. DOERFLINGER AND LEON ll.lllltlh, ()l N [AGA RA FALLS, NEW YORK. AFSHENOlti-l, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO MARCUS h'llNh), 01* NEW YORK, .r'., AND lilllllll Ill) 1(1.

YOUNG, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

SOLUBLE PRODUCTS.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 8, 1907.

Application filed January 26,1906. Serial No. 297,970.

To all whom it may concern:

'Be it known that we, WILLIAM F. Dormrnmonn and LEON H. BUCK, bothcitizens of the United States, residing at Niagara Falls, in the Stateof New York, have invented certain new. and useful Improvements inProcesses of Treating Wurtzilite or Elaterite and of Producing FusibleSoluble Products Containing Wurtzilito or Elaterite, and do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to make thesame.

Wurtzilite, or elateritc, is the name given by mineralogists to amineral asphaltic substance which varies in composition but which hascertain well known physical characteristics. It is of conchoidalfracture, has a brown streak, is brownish black in color and in piecesthin enough to be translucent, has an orange red brown color bytransmitted light. It is tough at ordinary temperatures and is notsoluble in alkalics, acids. or the petroleum distillatcs, except inminute quantities. On account of these properties, it is an idealsubstance for use as a coating material to protcct structures exposed tothe weather, such as build ings, or to the water, such as vessels, butthe ditliculty of treating it and mixing it with ordinary liquidvehicles, such as turpentine, whereby it may be applied to suchpurposes, has heretofore rendered its use unpractical;

When heated under ordinary conditions wurtzilito does not melt until arelatively high temperature is reached, but decomposes. We havediscovered, however, that when it is mixed before, or at the time of,heating with certain resinous substances it does not decompose butbecomes fusible when heated to a comparatively low temperature, say 350C. and after cooling becomes completely soluble in turpentine and otherliquid vehicles wher by may hi.- up plied to the purposes stated. lit isnec ssary that the resinous substance employed should he one which aftertreatment is itself soluble in the liquid W'llH'lu to be thereafteremployed, for instance, it may be gilsonite which is soluble inturpentine without heating, or it may be amber gum, which is not solublein.

turpentine until it has been heated.

As a concrete example of the application of our discovery, we may take asuitable quantity of wurtzilite and almost the same quantity ofgilsonite and first grind them together to a finely divided state, {oriustance, so that the particles will pass through a 40 mesh sieve. Thomixed powder is then placed in a suitable vessel to be heated.

It is best that the vessel should not be more than two-thirds full andthe t it should be. sot away from the direct lire so that it cannotlocally be overheated. "he vessel should then be liontcd to about 350 iand maintained at that temperature for about live hours. With anyparticular mixture or cmnbiualion of ingredients this time should be.determined by previous experiment. A suliiciout time has elapsed, itwill. be 'l'ound, when a cooled sample completely dissol es inturpentine free, or nearly free, from. in soluble specks.

When the heat is first applied, there is given oil a littleiricondensahlo gas and then possibly the per cent. of a volatile liquid.which should be caught in a condenser and receiver supplied for thatpurpose. After this has taken place, very little gas is given off andthe upper part ol the vessel is always filled with organic vapor whichexcludes air from the materials "ed on. Jlll has an injurious influenceand should as or as possible be excluded Alter the heating mjlt-rntiorlis completed the vessel will he found to contain a homogeneous liquid.This is then run. oft and allowed to cool and when it be,- comes solidit is broken up and is ready to be used in the preparation of thecoating material,

instead of 1 st grinding the Wurtzilitc and gilsonite and then lieutingthem together, the gilsonite may be first heated and liquefied and thesolid mu'tzilitc then added. This is not dill'eront in technicalel'l'ect from the step described and may under some conditions bepreferred.

:lL'IU /VOVI'I the healing accomplished. the gilsonito seems to act avehicle for carryim; the heat to all parts of the mass of wurtzilitowhereby the heat uuil'oruily distributed and evenly tlpj llll'fii l tothe'latter. This causes the u'urtnilile to melt at a temperature lowerthan that heretofore employed to fuse it and with a resulting economy inheat and time:

The product is less decomposed and more elastic than wurtzilitl. heatedalone which, for many pupposts, is almost Worthless.

The pieces of the compound-alter cooling are mixed with the properingredients to use us a coating mu.- tcriul. A good mixture consists osay 100 parts ol' the. compound, 150 parts of lurpcntim: and 25 parts oflinseed oil, .heuted together under conditions of agitation in asuitable vessel until'solution takes OF PEUDUUING FUSIBLE place; Theliquid is then filtered or otherwise cleared of impurities and cooled.The coating material thus produced is readily applied with e brush, hasa high luster, may be diluted as desired, is acid proof and has goodwearing properties.

Having described our invention, what We claim as new is:-

1. The process of treating wurtzilite which consists in heating it inthe presence oi. a suitable fusible resinous substance until homogeneousfusion takes place.

2. The process of treating wurtzilite which consists in heating it inthe presence of :1 suitable fusible resinous substance whereby theresultant compound is soluble in turpentine.

3 The process of treatin;, wurtzilite which consists in heating it inthe presence of a suitable fusible resinous substance, allowing thecompound to cooiand dissolving the same in a suitable liquid vehicle, asturpentine, whereby it may be employed as a coating material.

4. The process of treating wurtzilite which consists in heating it inthe presence of a suitable resinous substance to a temperature of about350 1., mnintaining it at such temperature with the exclusion of airuntil a homogeneous liquidis formed and thereafter allowing the. same tocool.

5 The process of treating wurtlzilite which consists in 2 heating it intheprcsence of a fusible resinous substance which is soluble inturpentine. showing the mass to cool after heuting, and dissolving thesame in turpentine to form a coating material.

6. The process of treating wurtzilite which consists in heating it inthe presence of a fusible resinous substance which is soluble inturpentine, allowing the mass to cool after heating, and dissolving thesame lnvturpentlne and linseed oil to forma coating material.

In witness whereof we have signed our names to this 35 specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' WM. n. nonruvnmenz LEON H. BUCK.

Witnesses;

J. H. SCHERMERHORN, 0. M. DAVIS.

